


Machine

by Rovelae



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Bad Ending, Everyone is Dead, Loneliness, Survivor Guilt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-31
Updated: 2019-01-31
Packaged: 2019-10-20 03:09:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17614277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rovelae/pseuds/Rovelae
Summary: An AU where Kiibo voted hope and ended up being named the next Ultimate Survivor.Hope isn't as hopeful as he thought it would be.





	Machine

**Author's Note:**

> *vine voice* hey guys i'm really sad

This body didn’t allow him to sleep.

Instead, Kiibo lay motionless on his back, staring up at the ceiling and trying not to think. At some point, the charging cord connected to the back of his head had buzzed and he’d yanked it out, shivering at the tingly feeling that blossomed on the back of his neck before fading away again. Fully charged.

It didn’t feel that way, though. Physically, he felt awake and alert, but his head swirled with a million different questions, regrets, and what-ifs. His heart … no, whatever was in his chest ached and his throat felt tight. The constant, pounding fear he’d been feeling since being dragged out of the rubble of the Ultimate Academy had drained away, but he wasn’t sure what remained. Sadness wasn’t deep enough to describe it. Frustration, maybe, and a bit of restless disorientation. A feeling that seemed to itch deep inside of him.

Despair? No, sharper, more intense. Misery.

Unbidden, his thoughts wandered back to them. _Them_.

The aching in his chest grew more profound. He wanted to hold on to those memories, he wanted to forget everything. He wanted to picture everyone’s faces when he closed his eyes, he wanted to shove them away into the corners of his mind where the real world couldn’t taint them.

Amami’s gentle smile. Akamatsu’s fingers dancing across a desktop as she hummed to herself.

No, not this _again,_ he told himself, but his memories won out.

Hoshi’s look of determination when he’d decided not to give up hope. The pride in Tojo’s eyes as she served the others meals that would put a gourmet restaurant to shame. Angie laughing as she described the outlandish customs of her island home.

Each face brought a fresh wave of pain.

Chabashira positioning herself between the Exisals and the rest of the group, her fists clenched. Shinguji telling stories from thousands of years ago. Iruma’s voice squeaking with excitement as she showed off another invention.

Kiibo brought his hands up to cover his face, trembling slightly.

Gonta.... Gonta. Wearing his heart on his sleeve and promising to protect everyone.

It hurt.

Ouma, shifting the group’s hatred onto himself so nobody else had to die.

It _hurt._

Momota, grinning through a mouthful of his own blood, swearing even to the end that the impossible was possible.

It hurt so, so much.

Yumeno, trembling, but unshakable in her determination to end the game. Harukawa, facing down death without a trace of hesitation. Saihara’s golden eyes blazing as he rejected the entire world.

He realized he was whispering their names, over and over, like a prayer—or like he was calling out to them.

“Don’t leave me,” he gasped, curling in on himself. “Don’t go … I’m so sorry.”

_I did this. It’s my fault._

“Everyone? Please....”

_My fault._

“Please, I don’t want this, I don’t want to be alone....”

_They’re gone. They’re gone, forever_.

“I’m so sorry.”

But nobody heard him, and all the apologies in the world couldn’t bring them back.

And this body, this metal abomination, didn’t allow him to cry.

**Author's Note:**

> I hate this game so much.


End file.
